


These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

by reddiebitch



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier-centric, Established Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, M/M, Married Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-22 21:47:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13773237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddiebitch/pseuds/reddiebitch
Summary: Richie and Eddie fight It together in 1989, and are inseparable until college forcibly breaks them apart. Eight years later, they run into each other and start dating again. Fourteen years later, they have to return to Derry to fight It again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from tumblr: Reddie’s first fight as a couple ( + making up if you’re not for angst)
> 
> Find me on tumblr [@kaspbrak-eddie](http://www.kaspbrak-eddie.tumblr.com)

In the fall of 1989, all of the members of the losers club slowly lost memories from that summer; they simply slipped away–gradually at first, but more and more every day. It felt like waking up from a dream, the harder they tried to remember what had happened the quicker it escaped their reach. The only thing that remained was the way that summer had made them feel.

Ben had fallen in love with Beverly, Beverly with Bill. Bill was still coping with the loss of his brother, but was starting to move on–more than he felt he should be, especially compared to his parents. Mike had begun to feel a sense of belonging like he never had before–he finally had friends. Stan felt more paranoid than he ever had in his life, nervous every day about  _something_  happening again, but he didn’t remember what that thing was, not anymore. None of them ever talked about their memories escaping them, fearing they were the only one going crazy. Nobody talked about it, that is, except for Richie and Eddie when they were alone.

That summer had changed everything for the two of them. Best friends for years, that summer had finally put everything out in the open. They’d been terrified for their lives together, bringing them closer than ever. They spent countless nights that fall at the quarry because neither of them wanted to be home, trying to remember what had happened, wondering if the others were forgetting too.

* * *

The fall of 1991 was when they began spending nights together. It started one night, unusually hot for the month of September, when the two of them were at Eddie’s working on a group project for their science class. They ended up working until 1:30 in the morning, at which time Eddie simply fell asleep at his desk, snoring softly into his textbook. Richie noticed from his spot on the floor and snorted loudly, waking Eddie up.

He glared at Richie, standing up. “I’m going to bed. Stay if you want, you probably shouldn’t go home this late.”

Richie offered to sleep on the floor like they normally did when they had sleepovers with their friends, but Eddie insisted they share the bed. They fell asleep that night almost immediately after getting in bed, not touching at all.

The next morning, Richie awoke to Eddie curled up into a tight ball, knees right up against his chest. It was then that Richie realized how beautiful Eddie was. Richie just lay there watching him breathe softly until his eyes fluttered open a few minutes later. It was on a sunny morning in the fall of 1991 that Richie Tozier fell in love with his best friend.

* * *

It was in spring of 1992 that they started dating. It was one of the first warm, sunny days of the year, and they were at the quarry with the rest of the losers. They were laying on a picnic blanket together on the rocks, the rest of their friends in the water. Eddie had screamed when his foot brushed past some gross algae or plant in the water, gaining a laugh from his friends. He stated that he was done “spending time in this disgusting cesspool of filth and disease.” and had promptly swam to the edge of the water and gotten out.

Richie watched him go, then turned to the others. “I’m gonna go keep him company. I was bored of swimming anyway.” He’d turned his back to them too quickly to catch the knowing glances they were exchanging.

The two of them were laying on their backs, watching the clouds go by, talking absentmindedly about the school year coming to an end and what they wanted to do that summer.

Richie rolled over to face Eddie, propping himself up on his elbow. “You know what I wanna do this summer?”

Eddie remained on the blanket, arms folded over his stomach and his eyes closed, enjoying the sun on his face. “If you say my mom I’m leaving right fucking now, Richie. I swear to god.”

“I was gonna say you.”

At this, Eddie nearly choked on his own spit. “What the fuck, Rich?”

“Not really. But like, kinda. What if we went out?”

Eddie could feel the deep blush in his cheeks. He sat up and looked at his best friend incredulously. “Are you serious?”

Richie sat all the way up to be at his level and nodded, actually looking sincere. “You can’t tell me you don’t feel it. I don’t know what  _it_  is. But there’s something. I think there has been for a while now.”

Eddie was blushing all over now, from his face to his ears to his chest and down his back. “I mean… no, yeah. I agree. I’ve been so confused about it for so long.” He said softly, now looking into Richie’s seeking, bright eyes. “I think the way I feel about you is the way I’m supposed to feel about girls. But I’ve never felt that way ever. About any girl. Or anyone but you for that matter.”

Richie reached a hand out to cup Eddie’s cheek, “I think the same thing sometimes.”

Bev shouted from the water, “Get a room you two!”

Both of them flipped her off and erupted into laughter, laying back down on the blanket, facing each other this time. Each of them just taking in every detail of the other in the warm, almost-summer sun.

* * *

The spring of 1994 was when it all fell apart. On a chilly night in late March of 1994, right after Richie Tozier was freshly eighteen years old, he had to watch his entire world shatter into a million pieces in less than fifteen minutes.

They’d just gotten back from one of their frequent late-night trips to the quarry, usually spurred by Richie not wanting to spend any time inside if it was nice outside. After they got back to Richie’s house–who’s parents were out late that evening with friends–Richie announced he needed a shower. They hadn’t even gone in the water, it was too cold to swim. Their night had mostly been the two of them making out on the cliff that overlooked the water they’d played in so often as children. Richie had invited Eddie to join him in the shower, mostly as a ruse to get Eddie naked, but Eddie had declined.

While Richie was in the shower, Eddie milled around his room, bored. He looked through Richie’s records leaning against the wall in the corner, memories playing in his mind as he flipped through each one–memories of them laying on Richie’s floor together, laying in his bed together, laughing, crying, studying. Always together. Each record, each song was its own little story, its own moment in time, isolated from the terrible world outside that could never accept them. He thought through his favorites as he ran his fingers along their tops.

He could remember the song that had been playing the first time he’d looked into Richie’s eyes–really looked–and noticed how deep and beautiful they were. And the song that followed that one, during which he realized he never wanted to look anywhere else.

He could remember the song that had been playing the day they had been laying on the floor, both on their backs, just watching the ceiling fan and talking about nothing. That had been the first time their hands had brushed and neither had pulled away. Richie kept his hand where it was, face-up on the floor, and Eddie had closed his eyes before taking a leap of faith and intertwining their fingers. Richie had squeezed back tighter than Eddie could have ever hoped.

He remembered the song that had played during their first kiss–that one had actually been in Richie’s car–but he’d dragged Eddie to the record shop the next day to buy it so they’d always have it.

All these tiny moments that made up their relationship, their lives. They were each other’s entire lives at this point, neither could imagine the thought of existing without the other. At least that’s what Eddie thought, until he came across an envelope hidden between two of the records.

Curious, he picked it up. They had no secrets, so what was the big deal? It was already open anyway, so Richie would never have to know that he saw it if it ended up being something he shouldn’t have picked up.

His fingers gingerly unfolded the envelope, as if the slightest movement could tear it. He pulled out what looked like a college acceptance letter, but it wasn’t to any of the schools they’d applied for together.

It was to UCLA. And it was offering Richie acceptance and a full ride. He froze. He was vaguely aware of the shower shutting off in the other room, and he heard Richie softly humming as he walked in the room. But it was all registering on a completely different plane of existence from the one he was currently residing.

“Eds?” Richie probed, pulling on a pair of boxers. 

This brought Eddie back to earth, and he realized he had fat tears forming in his eyes. He reached up to wipe at them before turning around. Richie hadn’t put his glasses back on after his shower yet, so he was still in the clear as long as his voice didn’t betray him.

“Rich? What is this?” Eddie asked, trying to sound casual but he wasn’t even convincing himself.

Richie squinted, feeling around his nightstand for a second before finding his glasses and putting them on his face. His eyes flew open wide immediately the second he could make out what Eddie was holding. “Oh god, Eds. Eddie. You weren’t supposed to find that.” He said frantically, brushing his still wet hair out of his eyes.

“What is this?”

“I didn’t tell you. I just wanted to see if I’d get in. You know I’ve wanted to go there since I was like ten. But then I… I got that…” He trailed off, moving to sit on the floor next to Eddie.

Eddie scooted as far away from him as possible, pushing his back against the wall and wrapping his arms around himself, burying his face in his bent knees and looking at Richie through tears that were welling back up in his eyes. “You’re not thinking of going are you?” He said, terrified at how close his voice was to breaking, at how close  _he_  was to breaking.

Richie dropped his voice low, “They said they’d pay for my school, Eddie! Which none of the schools in New York are doing! My parents don’t have much money anyway… I still haven’t talked to them about how much we’re going to have to pay for the New York ones.” 

“Have you told them about this yet?” Eddie asked, unable to help himself. Maybe they didn’t have to know. Maybe if New York was the only option for Richie, like it was for him.

“No.” Richie said, looking down at the carpet through his criss-crossed legs. “I got it three weeks ago. I haven’t told anyone.”

Eddie just looked up at him, tears clouding his vision.

“God, Eds. Don’t fucking look at me like that.”

“Like what? How am I fucking looking at you?”

“Like I just betrayed you!”

“You did! You know I can’t go to California! Even if I had applied, which it’s too late now anyway.” Eddie finally let his tears fall.

“Eddie! It’s not too late, we could just go out there. You could start in January. We’d probably still be able to graduate together, you work way harder than I do.” Richie tried a small laugh.

Eddie just looked up at him and shook his head slowly.

“Eds, please.” Richie moved closer, wanting to comfort him.

Eddie shook his head harder, reaching a hand out, spreading his fingers out on Richie’s chest to stop him from getting any closer.

“You know that she won’t let me go. That she would  _never_  let me go that far.” His voice started soft, but picked up volume as he got angrier. “You were there when we convinced her to do New York! That took months! And it’s only an hour away on a fucking airplane! Do you know how long cross country flights are?!”

Richie just sat back, legs folded under him. He had looked sad when Eddie had started talking, but as Eddie’s anger rose, so did his. He could feel himself about to say something he’d regret, but he couldn’t stop his fucking trashmouth.

“I never asked for this!”

“For WHAT?”

“This is your life! Not your mom’s! Just fucking come with me to California! Fuck her!”

“I can’t just do that Richie! She’s my fucking  _mom_!”

They were both yelling at this point, unable to keep all the months of bickering about college applications at bay any longer.

“Fuck you of course you can! That woman has done nothing but treat you like shit for your entire life, Eddie! She’s the reason you won’t have sex with me unless we’ve both showered! She’s the reason you haven’t touched a door handle in 18 years! She’s the reason–”

“Just. Stop it, Richie. Fucking stop it.” 

“No! I love you more than she  _ever_  has! And you fucking know it. I’ve loved you since we were twelve years old when I didn’t even know what love was. She never learned.”

“I’m just going to fucking go. I can’t have this fight with you anymore.” 

Richie looked up, the tears of anger that had been welling in his eyes finally falling down his face, which was breaking into an expression of hurt rather than rage. “Eddie don’t do this to me. Please. I need you.”

Eddie couldn’t reply. The lump in his throat made it impossible to speak, and he didn’t have anything to say. He ran down the stairs, through the front door, and out onto the street. He ran the opposite direction of his house, and just kept running. He had no plans to stop.


	2. Chapter 2

On one of the first warm days of the year in April 2002, Eddie Kaspbrak was waiting on a subway platform, trying to get home after having stayed late at work. He was minding his own business, nose stuck in a book, when he heard a familiar voice.

“Eds? Eddie oh my god it’s really you!” 

Eddie snapped his head up, he hadn’t been called Eds in over eight years. He looked around for a second until his eyes landed on somebody he never thought he’d see again.

He watched as Richie bounded over to him with a huge, goofy smile on his face. He looked pretty much the same as he had the day they’d graduated high school together, although at that point the two hadn’t spoken a word to each other in almost two months. After Eddie had left Richie’s house that cold night in March, he’d decided he couldn’t bear to talk to Richie again before he moved all the way across the country, he was already too hurt. 

At eighteen years old, Eddie had thought he’d never be able to forgive Richie for what he had done. But now, at twenty-six, watching Richie walk toward him–Richie, who made up such a big part of who he was and had become, Richie, who had been so sure they were soulmates when they were seventeen, Richie, who probably told Eddie he loved him more than his own mother had during those years–Eddie didn’t know how he had lived through cutting him out in the first place. 

All the memories of their relationship washed over him like a tidal wave, followed quickly by memories of him crying over Richie almost every night after they’d both left Derry that summer. It had hurt to be apart, but it was a pain he’d gotten used to, he hadn’t even known it was still there until that day.

“Rich.” He said quietly, dumbstruck after Richie had closed the distance between them. It was weird to see him so up close again, Eddie couldn’t believe he was actually real. “What are you doing here?”

Richie reached up awkwardly, as if to fix the glasses he no longer wore, then moved to run his fingers through his hair, which was still just as messy and tangled as it had been when they were kids. “Um well… I actually just moved here. I wasn’t sure if you were still going to be in town… Or if you’d even want to see me.”

“I was a dumb kid when I cut you out of my life, Richie. It wasn’t your fault. I’ve been wanting to apologize for eight years. I just wasn’t sure how to.”

Richie took his face in both hands, looking down into the warm brown eyes that he had spent all of his adolescence mesmerized by. They had been alone on the platform, before a whoosh came out of the tunnel, signaling the approaching train. Richie nervously dropped his hands to his sides and they both quickly took a step back, moving to face the train instead of each other. 

Richie turned his head to the side, “This your train too?”

Eddie looked back up at him and nodded. They waited for the doors to clear as a few people got off the train then clambered on together, easily finding seats next to each other as it was fairly late at night. 

Eddie looked up at Richie once they were seated. “You get contacts finally?”

Richie nodded excitedly. “In college. They’re fucking great. So where are you headed? Where’d you end up after NYU?” 

“I’m in Brooklyn now, I actually work for CPS. I mostly get assigned kids with upbringings like mine, it’s nice to be able to help them. When did you get here?”

“I got here about three months ago, I randomly knew a guy who knew a guy who set me up with the SNL writers’ room. So that’s been really fun.”

Eddie raised his eyebrows. “SNL? Jesus, Rich. What did you do after school?”

“I worked in radio for a little bit, but they all told me I was too pretty for it.” He said jokingly, shooting a wink at Eddie.

Eddie just shook his head but smiled at him, amazed at how much hadn’t changed between the two of them in the last eight years.

“Hey listen, my stop is coming up, I’m about to have a late dinner if you haven’t eaten yet… You could join me. That way you don’t have to go all the way to Brooklyn. It’s really far. Unless you don’t want to or you can’t or you’re tired or someth–” 

“Shhh you’re doing that thing. Let’s do it, we have a lot to catch up on.”

Richie beamed at him, almost taking his hand but stopping himself, they were still in a fairly crowded subway train. That could wait. 

The two of them walked the short distance from the subway exit to a little Chinese restaurant Richie went to very often, apparently. He pushed the door open in front of Eddie, and the guy behind the counter immediately smiled at him. “Aye! The funny guy’s here! Make a joke, funny guy!” The man said with a thick accent. 

Richie laughed good-naturedly back. “Hey man. I’ll just do the usual.” He turned to face Eddie. “What do you want? I’ll buy.”

“Oh you don’t ha–” 

Richie waved a hand at Eddie’s face and turned back to the guy behind the counter. “Just give him the same, I’m sure he’ll love it.” He turned back to Eddie and they exchanged a soft smile. 

They grabbed their bags of to-go food once they were ready and headed off to Richie’s apartment, which was just a few doors down from the restaurant. They walked into the lobby, escaping the heat outside, Richie flashing a short wave at the front desk guy before walking to a door at the back and leading them into a stairwell. 

“It’s a fourth floor walk-up, sorry. You gonna make it, wheezy?” Richie said with a smile, looking over at Eddie as they started up the stairs.

“The asthma wasn’t real. Remember, dipshit?” 

“I know I know, I just like making fun of you.” Richie said and reached over to mess up his hair.

They got up to Richie’s apartment a few minutes later, and Eddie watched as he fished around his pocket for the keys with one hand, the other occupied with their bag of takeout. He put them in the lock and turned it, pushing the door open with his hip. “Oh I have a dog by the way.” He said as the door swung open, revealing a golden retriever jumping up and down right behind the door. Instead of responding, Eddie simply rushed over to the dog and crouched down to pet it, where it immediately began to lick his face. 

Richie shut and locked the door behind him, turning around to find Eddie on his back, laughing, pinned down by the dog who was still licking his cheeks. “Ah! Molly! STOP!” She looked up at him and sauntered over, nuzzling her head against his jeans. “Jesus fucking christ, sorry.” He said as he leaned over to pat her head. 

Eddie sat up and wiped the slobber from his face. “It’s fine.” He said, still laughing. “I love dogs.”

“Okay I’m fucking starving. Let’s eat.” Richie said, walking over to the ‘living room’ area of his tiny one bedroom Manhattan apartment to put the food down on his coffee table. 

They sat on the couch together, facing each other with their food in their laps, catching up on everything they’d been doing for the last eight years, and anything they’d heard from back home about their other friends, which hadn’t been much. 

When they finished eating Richie brought their empty boxes into his kitchen to throw away. He sat back down and patted his lap, looking at Eddie with hopeful eyes. Eddie shrugged, then laid down, putting his head in Richie’s lap. Richie reached down and threaded a finger through Eddie’s hair, losing himself in the familiarity of it all.

A few minutes later Molly came up and nudged Eddie’s legs with her nose. He curled them up close to make room for her, and she hopped up onto the couch, cuddling up close to him. The three of them lay there like that for a while, Richie playing with Eddie’s hair, talking about his job and all the amazing people he’d met in the last three months; Eddie’s hands in Molly’s hair, listening to Richie’s stories intently. 

Around 11:30, Richie took a deep breath before asking the question that had been burning in the back of his mind ever since they’d gotten on that subway train together. “Wanna stay the night?”

Eddie looked up at him with a mischievous smile on his face. “Sure, Richie.” He said as he moved to sit up.

They watched as Molly made her way to her bed in the corner, and Richie took Eddie’s hand, leading him into his bedroom. 

* * *

About an hour later, they were laying in Richie’s bed, both naked and fairly sweaty.

“Oh my god you’ve gotten so much better at that!” Richie exclaimed, still breathing heavily.

“What can I say, college was good to me.” Eddie chuckled softly, tracing lines with his finger on Richie’s bare chest.

“Fuck, Eddie.” Richie sighed, tone more serious now. “Do you ever think about what our lives would be like right now if everything had just worked out?”

“I did at first.” Eddie said quietly. “I did every day, Rich. Freshman year was really fucking hard.” 

Richie moved the arm that was around Eddie up to his waist, rubbing his thumb across the supple, warm skin it found there. “I just wish we could have been doing this. I wish we’d never stopped.” 

Eddie propped himself up on his elbow and noticed tears welling up in Richie’s eyes. He reached a hand out to graze across the freckles Richie still had on his nose. “Hey, we can do it right now though, right?”

Richie beamed up at him, nodded, then pulled him in for another kiss. It was on a warm day in 2002 that both of them had finally found their way back to where they were meant to be.


	3. Chapter 3

On one of the warmest days of the summer in 2015, Eddie and Richie were sitting together on their sofa, legs entangled, watching the news. It was that day that they found out they could finally get married, and they had looked each other in the eyes the moment the newscaster finished the story. No words were spoken between the two of them. Richie grabbed Eddie’s already tear-stained cheeks with hands wet from wiping away his own, and pulled him close, smashing their lips together. 

The next day was impossibly hotter than the last when they woke up at 6:00am and sprinted to the courthouse. It was on a blistering, sunny day in the summer of 2015 that Richie Tozier finally married the love of his life.

* * *

 

On one of the last warm days of the year in 2016, Richie and Eddie received a phone call from an old friend.

The flight back to Derry was relatively short, both of them stayed silent the entire time, hands gripped tightly between them. Once they arrived at the Bangor airport, they rented a car and drove into town. They met up with their friends that evening, none of whom were surprised they’d ended up back together. 

At Mike’s suggestion, they split up the next day, walking around Derry and trying to remember all that they had forgotten. They walked around the streets they grew up on, memories coming back in pieces. Around lunch time, Richie felt a searing pain in his eyes, one that had been building since they’d arrived in Derry. He popped his contacts out, hoping for any sort of relief. It worked, but left him groping around on the ground for fifteen minutes before he gave up. He knew he wouldn’t be able to find them, and decided that he wouldn’t be able to remember anything about that summer without Eddie. He sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket to call a cab back to the Town House. He headed up to the room to wait for Eddie’s return, but when he arrived, he found Eddie waiting for him, having come to the same conclusion--they really couldn’t do anything without each other.

After he’d retrieved the old glasses he hadn’t worn in years, they lay on their backs in the king sized bed. Richie wrapped an arm around Eddie who rested his head on Richie’s chest and let his perfectly combed hair be ruined by Richie’s nervous fingers. For hours they talked through that summer, attempting to piece together the bits they’d each remembered, weaving a quilt of memories, still missing big chunks. 

That night at the library, they all told one story after another, Eddie and Richie contributing what they had come up with during the day. By the time they left that night at 1:00am, they had most of it put together, but their minds were shot. They headed back, walking with Ben a little ways behind Beverly and Bill. 

“Think they’re finally gonna get it on??” Richie asked, laughing as they made their way down the library steps.

“Shut it, Richie.” Eddie said quietly, reaching out to grab his arm tightly.

“Right. Sorry, Haystack.” Richie looked over at Ben apologetically, pushing his glasses up on his nose. 

“It’s fine. I always knew it would be them.” Ben said, looking down at his feet and kicking a pebble absentmindedly. 

When they got back to the Town House, they laid in bed for a while, trying to figure out how on earth they could have forgotten every detail of their childhoods. After a few hours, the two of them decided to take a hot shower to calm down so they could fall asleep. Eddie bathed quickly, but Richie wanted to stay in for longer, needing time to think. Eddie got out and made his way back into the room to dress for bed when he heard a knock on the door. He looked at the clock.  _3:04am. What in the fucking hell..._ Eddie thought as he walked towards the door.

“Who’s it?” Eddie called through the door wearily, just wanting to get in bed. 

“Bellboy.” Said a voice from the other side of the door. “There’s a message for you.”

Assuming it was from one of the others, but wondering in the back of his mind why they wouldn’t have just called his cell phone, he reluctantly opened the door.  _Maybe one of them had gotten hurt_ , he thought to himself, distressed.

He opened the door to see what looked to him like a ghost. Some part of his mind numbly registered that it was Henry Bowers, but he couldn’t process what was happening. He looked like a corpse, and had blood smeared all over his front, his clothes were soaked in it. In the few milliseconds it took Eddie to take in his appearance, Henry had lifted his hand, revealing a knife. Eddie’s first reaction was to slam the door shut. This trapped Henry’s arm in between the wall and the door; he heard a crunch and his fingers went limp, dropping the knife. Eddie kicked it under the bed. Henry cried out as he threw his body against the door, forcing it open, and Eddie was thrown back. He reached a hand behind him to stop himself from falling into the bed, and skittered over to the wall. He grabbed a half-empty glass bottle and smashed it against the edge of the nightstand, sending carbonated water splashing all over the floor before turning back around. 

“Hey there, fucking fag. I’m here to teach you a lesson.” Eddie watched as Henry’s eyes flitted around the room, frantically searching for the knife. He had apparently come to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to find it, and leapt forward, arms aiming for Eddie’s throat. Eddie shoved the broken bottle forward, the sharp, ragged edge found Henry’s face, breaking the skin on his cheek and going into his eye. He screamed in pain and staggered back. 

“Eddie? Baby? What the  _fuck_ are you doing in there?”  _Right. Richie was still in the shower._  Eddie thought to himself, it had been less than a minute since the knock on the door and he was still in shock. 

Henry cackled at the voice coming from the bathroom. “You really are a fag, huh? You and that fucking Tozier kid? I’m not surprised.” Henry stalked back across the room, removing a hand from his eye in order to use his full force to push Eddie into the nightstand. When Eddie fell against it, he caught himself with his arm-- _The bad arm,_ he thought to himself gravely in the split second he found his arm on the table, then it twisted behind him, snapping along the same old break from almost 30 years before. He let out a muffled cry of agony, shoving his other hand into his mouth to stifle the noise. 

“Eddie! What the  _fuck,_  man?” The shower shut off and he heard Richie clumsily get out of the shower. “Ah fuck did I leave my glasses out there?” Eddie’s eyes darted over to the nightstand where Richie’s glasses sat, lenses resting against the dark wood. His stomach sank. 

Eddie called back, “Yeah! Just--” but was cut off as Henry began to charge again, eyes crazed. He still had the broken bottle in his hand, and stuck it out in front of him, thrusting it into Henry’s torso against his movement. He felt fresh, warm blood flow over him. Henry fell limply around the bottle, slumping over onto Eddie’s body before sliding off and landing on the floor with a thud. He looked up to see Richie standing in the doorway of the bathroom, towel wrapped low around his hips, squinting in the dark at the scene in front of him. 

“Eds? What just happened?” 

Eddie stood up slowly, grabbing Richie’s glasses and bringing them over to him. He put them on his face, and his eyes widened almost cartoonishly as he looked back and forth between Henry, collapsed on the ground, and his husband, now cradling his broken arm. 

“Call Bill.” Eddie said, leaning back against the wall and sliding down to sit on the floor. 

 

* * *

 

Richie opened the door cautiously for Beverly and Bill a few minutes later, both walking in with bedhead, looking not as tired as they should have been. “H-h-h-how is he?” Bill whispered in the doorway as he watched Bev walk in and sit opposite Eddie, taking his good hand in both of hers and holding it tight. 

“He’s okay for now. I gave him some painkillers.” Richie said, running a hand through his hair as Bill walked past him into their room. 

Okay was not exactly the word Bill would have used to describe Eddie at that moment: his face white, lips pressed together so hard there was no color in them at all. He smiled weakly up at Bill. They called Ben, who arrived as they were splinting Eddie’s arm. They hadn’t gotten a hold of Mike, but decided to try him again once they had a plan. 

About an hour later they were in Richie and Eddie’s rental car, driving to Mike’s house after about ten unanswered calls. Nobody answered the door, so they checked the library next. What they found there was absolutely horrifying. The whole building was surrounded by cop cars, the lights casting eerie shadows in the dark. Eddie whispered quietly from the passenger seat, “Henry was soaked in blood already when he opened my door. He probably found Mike first.” 

They pulled away from the parking lot and parked the car on a side street. Richie turned around from the driver’s seat to look around the interior of the car at the rest of the group. “What the fuck do we do now?” 

“W-we have to kill It. We’re wa-wa-wasting time.” Bill said loudly from the back seat, sounding more confident than the rest of them felt. 

Beverly cried out, “We have to find out what happened! If he’s okay!” 

So, they all watched silently as Richie pulled his cell phone out, first calling the Derry police department, then the hospital, pretending to be a reporter in order to get information. They listened to the phone on speaker as the nurse at the hospital informed them that he was in fact still alive, but in grave condition.

“We’ll g-go after we do th-th-this. We pro-promised. We ha-have to.” Bill whispered. There were no more words exchanged, but Richie put the car in drive and parked it on the kissing bridge. They clambered out of the car and made their way warily into the barrens, letting Ben lead the way to the same drainpipe they had climbed in 27 years before. 

 

* * *

 

Richie’s mind was falling, falling out of that other place, back into reality. He could feel it slam back into his body, the force of it almost knocking him over. He opened his eyes to find his glasses had fallen off, and leaned over to pick up the frames that were barely holding the shattered lenses, slipping them back on his face. He looked around wildly and his eyes found what he was seeking almost immediately--Eddie. 

Eddie laying on the ground, bleeding out of his shoulder. “Eds.” He raced over clumsily, sliding Eddie’s limp body into his lap, cradling his head in his hands. His eyes were still open but they were distant, there was almost no light left in them. “Eds oh my god Bill Ben someone he’s lost his arm his” Richie was cut off, choking on a sob. “Eds.” He whispered again, his thumb rubbing the somehow still soft skin of Eddie’s cheek, age hadn’t taken that away yet.

Eddie looked up at Richie from his lap, and let the tears fall from his eyes. Eddie let his broken arm rest in his lap and looked up at Richie, the man who he had loved for almost thirty years, his eyes pleading and dark behind his thick lenses. He looked the same as he had when Eddie had fallen in love with him. 

“I love you, Eds.” Richie said between heaving sobs, wiping the tears from his face frantically. 

“Richie.” He reached a hand up weakly to touch Richie’s tear-stained cheek. “You know I... I...” The light left his eyes and Richie watched in horror as Eddie’s hand fell limply into his lap.

And so it was on a cold day in the early fall of 2016 that Richie lost the love of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when death  
> takes my hand  
> i will hold you with the other  
> and promise to find you  
> in every lifetime
> 
>  _commitment_ \- rupi kaur


End file.
